The Contractor
by WeiXiao
Summary: Paligorn is a unique Bosmer hunter, with a specialty in cooking. He's also the Contractor. A hitman without rival. None have seen his face and lived to tell the tale. When he gets asked by one of his regular clients to take on a long term job, he doesn't know what to expect. Certainly not working with the one person he utterly hates: The Dragonborn.
1. Chapter 1

**Random ideas come to my mind at the strangest moments.**

 **This one was kinda inspired by an armor mod I found a while back.**

 **Oh, and just to make things clear: The Dragonborn is NOT the main character in this story. I'll fill you guys in on that either this or next chapter.**

* * *

"Here you go! Three venison stews. Enjoy!" The Bosmer said with a light smile.

The three Nord travelers at Dead Man's Drink took the stews with great appreciation.

"Ah. Freshly made venison stew is the best." The first man, a mercenary, said.

"Eh, I don't know, Asgald. It might have to do with the fact that it's your favorite dish." Sillen shook her head.

"I don't think it's the dish so much as it is the cook. Paligorn's dishes are some of the best! We're lucky that he's in town." The third, bearded man said.

"You give me too much credit, Toren. I just cook up the food and mix some healthy herbs in it. It's just really convenient with a forest nearby that I can go hunt at when I feel like it." The white-haired, pale wood elf said, scratching the back of his head and laughing. "I need to go help out back with some stuff."

After he left, Asgald turned to his fellow patrons. "So, have any of you heard anything about our quarry?"

Toren shook his head. "Nothing at all. Every time my men have a lead on him, he ends up disappearing."

"We still don't have any leads on him at all." Sillen frowned. "The Contractor certainly isn't willing to give away anything about himself."

"What's this about a contractor?" A voice suddenly spoke up behind them.

The three of them jumped at the voice, before relaxing. "Paligorn, you really need to alert people to your presence. It's kind of scary how you can just pop out of nowhere."

Paligorn shrugged. "I wasn't really trying to hide myself. But what is this about a contractor?"

"THE Contractor." Sillen corrected him. "Have you heard of him?"

"Can't say that I have. Who is he?"

Toren took it upon himself to explain. "You've heard of the Dark Brotherhood, right? The secretive assassin group?"

Paligorn nodded. "Yeah. I've heard of them. What about it?"

"Well, lad, there are rumors of an assassin out there who is leaps and bounds above the abilities of the Dark Brotherhood. They call him the Contractor. The most dangerous assassin in existence. He's been responsible for the murder of bandit leaders, jarls, generals, you name it. Hell, I think the only thing the Dark Brotherhood managed to get over him was assassinating the Emperor. We've been trying to find him forever, but he doesn't ever leave anything except for a trademark."

Paligorn nodded, urging him to go on. "What kind of trademark?"

"Well, almost all his kills have a couple things in common: They're clean kills with one shot, and the arrow used is almost always one of those ancient arrows that you can find on draugrs. We're not sure how he even gets them." Toren explained.

"And the three of you have been trying to hunt him down." Paligorn concluded.

"We haven't really been successful." Sillen admitted. "It's like he disappears every time we think we have a lead."

Asgald added his own piece. "Plus he's really skilled. Stories go on about how the Dark Brotherhood sent over thirty assassins for him and none got away."

"Apparently, you can hire him for a job as well, all you have to do is to make some sort of mark on your door and he'll send this shadowy creature to receive your order. No one I've talked to has ever heard of it or seen it, though."

Paligorn shuddered. "That sounds really scary. I certainly wouldn't want to cross paths with him."

"Pray you never do, lad. Else it will be the last we ever hear of you." Toren warned.

* * *

After the Nords left and Paligorn went back to the forests, he started muttering to himself.

"Thirty assassins. For crying out loud. There weren't even twenty of them. Maybe fifteen at best."

A shadow suddenly appeared next to him, offering a small scroll. "You have a new request. Jarl Elisif wants you to curb the uprising just south of Kyne's Grove."

"And they called you a shadowy creature for crying out loud! You're clearly not a creature, you're my sister, Cyldra!"

"Only because we adopted you." The woman smirked. "Besides, can you blame them, seeing as I always appear to them in a mysterious fashion?"

Paligorn sighed. "No, I guess I can't. Just hand me the scroll."

A few minutes later, they made it to a small opening in the forest where they normally camped. Paligorn took that time to open the chest and don his equipment. Full black with a face mask and breastplate for protection. He pulled out his custom-made daedric bow as well, sighing as he did so.

"Well," The Contractor said. "Time to get to work."

* * *

 **Interesting idea, yes or no? Armor is the Contractor Armor from Contractor and Mavari Armors by Zerofrost. You can find it on Nexusmods.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I'm writing this while my brain tries to work on other stories at the same time. It's kind of working, I guess.**

 **Also, to clarify regarding the Dragonborn. He's a Nord, a prominent member of the Stormcloaks, as well as Harbinger of the Companions. Oh, and he killed Alduin.**

 **So I'll explain what happened with the Dark Brotherhood, seeing as I have them assassinating the Emperor in this story.**

 **Listener was someone else, everything happened as in Dark Brotherhood questline, then Contractor comes and murders pretty much every single one of them. A few members escape, but they're scattered. No real impact on this story. While I love the Dark Brotherhood in general, they just don't mesh well into this story for me.**

* * *

Garrow sharpened his sword as his comrades walked around. In a few days, they would begin a march to retake the Rift from the Imperials, who he found utterly detestable. The Nord sighed.

 _Damn the Contractor. If not for him, we could have maintained our presence in the Rift. Because of him, we had to abandon the fort. At least we still have the Dragonborn fighting for us._

The Contractor had made his presence known in the Rift, taking out many supply wagons that were headed to Fort Greenwall. Because of him, the Stormcloaks were unable to defend the fort and had to escape back to Windhelm. Garrow had been among those who fled. Now though, they were finally prepared to retake the Rift.

At least, he thought they were, until an arrow found itself in the skull of one of the men standing next to him. A familiar Ancient Nordic Arrow.

Everyone instantly shifted into the defensive, raising up their shields as they looked around for the man responsible. Garrow was understandably afraid.

 _He shouldn't have been able to sneak up on us! The watch should have been able to alert us to his presence. Unless…_ Garrow shuddered as he came to his realization. _He took them all out._

In his fear, Garrow didn't realize that he was the only one still standing until he saw the shadow walked up to him. He had to be honest, he almost soiled himself right then and there.

 _Oh gods he's standing right in front of me… Talos give me strength._ Garrow gripped his fear before charging at the Contractor, hoping to land the blow that would end the menace.

His sword would not reach. The Contractor sidestepped the downward slash, spinning and drawing a sword at the same time.

The sword coming for his face would be the last thing that Garrow ever saw.

* * *

"Tch. If only I hadn't run out of arrows. I should switch to something easier to find. Raiding crypts takes too long." Paligorn muttered.

He was about to look through bodies for any important details when his senses screamed at him to dodge. Rolling away, he turned around to see a steel greatsword embedded in the ground where he had just been. He narrowed his eyes at the man whose grip was on the greatsword. A man whose life he had once saved from the Dark Brotherhood. The Dragonborn.

 _Roran._

The Nord in question looked at him, anger in his eyes. "To think that I would meet you again, Paligorn. Why must you always hinder us? Do our struggles mean nothing to you?"

Paligorn felt anger rising up in him. "And what of my struggles? Almost all of my family was slain by Stormcloaks, no thanks to you. When you led them in retaking the Pale, my mother and father were caught in the crossfire! You killed them! You! The man I saved from the Dark Brotherhood!"

"You dare talk to me of struggles when I've had to bear witness to your work? Watching as you butchered the men and women I called brothers and sisters? I could have ended you years ago, if only the curse you put on me were removed. My wife was among them, damn you! This ends now. FUS RO DAH!"

The shout hit nothing, as Paligorn suddenly disappeared into thin air. "Consider yourself warned, Roran. I don't care if you have slain the World Eater himself. I will stand against you no matter what. And when the time comes, you will find your death at my hands."

The Dragonborn was left screaming as he found himself once again unable to avenge his comrades once again.

* * *

Jarl Elisif waited in her room as a woman came in. "Cyldra, when can we expect your brother to come back?"

"I'm right here, Jarl Elisif." A voice came from the window.

The Jarl jumped as the pale wood elf hopped in before taking a knee. "The men were planning to march on the Rift. I have taken care of the threat."

Elisif smiled sadly at the wood elf before her. "You seem wearier than before, Paligorn. Is something the matter?"

"I met Roran again, my Jarl."

"The Dragonborn? And what happened?"

The Contractor looked rather exhausted. "He tried to attack me, I escaped."

"Are you not worried about him revealing your identity or your skills?"

Paligorn shook his head. "When I rescued him from the Dark Brotherhood, I put a curse on him that prevents him from revealing anything about me. If he tries to speak about it, his tongue gets paralyzed."

"Once again, your proficiency in magic is astounding. I've never heard of any other mage pulling off that kind of scheme. But I digress. Was there anything else?" Elisif asked.

"Only the fact that I had to kill three vampires on the way here. They really need to learn to stop attacking."

"I was going to put this off for later, but since you've brought it up, I think this is the perfect opportunity." Elisif said.

Paligorn stood up. "Perfect opportunity for what?"

"I received a missive from a man named Isran. He says that he wants us to send anyone willing to help him with the vampire menace. Ulfric apparently got the same message as well. He's willing to offer a temporary truce until this threat is dealt with. I've agreed to help him as such."

Cyldra sighed. "I suppose this is my brother's next mission?"

"You are correct." Elisif turned to Paligorn. "Paligorn, as your Jarl, I order you to assist Isran in curbing this vampire threat."

Paligorn sighed. "Yes, my Jarl. I'll do as you ask."

Elisif nodded. "Very good. I'll have a courier send a file with the information you need on it. You are to leave in the morning."

* * *

Paligorn began rummaging through his chest once he got back to Proudspire Manor. "Cyldra, where did you put my dragonscale armor? The set that I made?"

"Paligorn…"

"You know it took me forever to collect all the dragon scales to make it, right?"

"I'm quitting." Cyldra said bluntly.

"Oh wait, I found it. Well, at least it's still in good—" He turned to his sister, suddenly comprehending what she said. "What? Did Fihada finally propose?"

Cyldra blushed. "Well, yes. We're to be wed later this week."

"Ah. I'm sorry I won't be around to see it, sister."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll make sure to make it up by showing up for your wedding."

Paligorn smiled. "Well either way, I wish you only the best of luck in your future. Hopefully you'll find something to do besides fletching arrows, even if that was how you caught his attention in the first place."

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Cyldra went out to get the message, returning with a small envelope. "Here's the information that Elisif promised you regarding the vampires." She handed it to him.

Paligorn glanced over it before returning to managing his armor. "Fort Dawnguard, huh? Southeast of Riften. That's quite a distance to walk."

"Just take your horse. It'll make things easier for you." Cyldra said.

"Yeah, you're right. It's not like I need to go undercover. I might bring my other armor, just in case though."

"Just pray that people don't find that armor otherwise your identity will be revealed."

Paligorn shrugged. "I can just shrink it and regrow it when I need to. The enchantment is still preserved regardless."

After saying this, he pulled out his standard contractor armor and began channeling his magic to shrink it. It always confounded Cyldra, seeing as she had never seen anyone else with that kind of magic except her brother. Even he didn't know how he did it. He just had the talent for it.

While Paligorn had started out mastering enchanting, smithing and alchemy, he soon found himself honing his talents in combat and assassination. His adopted parents noticed early on that he had a talent for those skills and let him in on the family trade: assassinations.

Eventually, he found himself in the constant hire of High King Torygg, whom he respected for his tolerance of all races. That was how they ended up with Proudspire Manor as their home. He would continue to serve the High King's family even after the death of his original client.

Cyldra would be moving out though, seeing as she was getting married. But that was beside the point.

Paligorn finished the touches to his dragonscale armor before putting it on and getting up. "Well, Fort Dawnguard here I come."

* * *

 **So yeah, a bit of context regarding Paligorn.**

 **His skillset:**

 **Enchanting – 100 (all perks)**

 **One-handed – 75 (dual wielder)**

 **Archery – 100 (all perks)**

 **Alchemy – 80**

 **Smithing – 100**

 **Sneaking – 100 (all perks)**

 **Lockpicking/Pickpocket – 70**

 **Everything else is at different levels of skill. The skills listed above are his primary skills.**

 **And yes, this mainly follows the Dawnguard questline, though loosely at best.**


End file.
